Too quick for the camera! Charlotte and her new friends loving Discover Story's 'Noisy room'

The Venue: 

Discover Story

The Awesome Bloggers: 

Zoe and her children from "Playing By The Book"

Helen and her children from "CApptivated Kids"

Polly and her children from "The Little Wooden Horse"

The awesome Elli from "Taking Words for a Stroll"

Oh and us, ReadItDaddy and "The Strolling Mum"

With superstar guest Alex T Smith!

After a crack-o-dawn start, team ReadItDaddy bumped on a very bumpy bus to That There London and to Stratford to meet the others. Amazingly, with good fortune (and some rather good spotting from Ali, the strolling mum) we all met up as intended and after a spot of lunch, headed off to Discover Story.

At the moment, this imaginative booktastic venue is space themed, but first we thought we'd explore upstairs and check out the various cool areas to play and run around in (and boy, can those kids run around - faster than my camera could track them anyway!)

Soon we headed downstairs into Discover's fabulous "Space Zone" for a journey to the stars. The kids loved donning their special space jackets, and exploring the alien planets and craters of the zone before taking part in a more interactive 'workshop' (with lots of blasting off and counting down!)

Charlotte discovers a groovy little robot chum in the Space Zone.

We were also at Discover on a special mission, to see a living legend in children's books in action.

Alex T Smith, creator of the fabulous "Claude" series of children's books gave a special talk and also let us into a few rather brilliant secrets (in particular, a sneaky peek at Claude 6 - "Claude Hits the Slopes" which NO ONE ELSE had seen before the day, not even Alex's own nephews!)

Alex T Smith showing us how to spot a sneaky ghost!

It was a brilliant talk, with Alex showing the gathered children how to draw Claude and become illustrators themselves (adults were also invited to take part, and I sneakily drew my Claude with a Tardis on his head as I'm sure this is what his Beret really is!)

Alex also signed our copy of "Claude in the Spotlight" and we even got to meet the REAL Sir Bobblysocks (sadly, missing his fabulous glasses alas).

It was absolutely lovely to meet the other bloggers (I was so nervous I think I babbled and mumbled a lot), and it was really brilliant that all our children had a ton of fun, and got on wonderfully together (listening to their conversations and hearing their fantastic imaginations at play was truly awesome).

So watch out world, we'll definitely be doing it again soon!

The Olympic Park - Just a stone's throw away from Discover Story

I can't quite believe we've never encountered Claude before, Alex T Smith's brilliant doggie creation who - along with the mysteriously enigmatic Sir Bobblysock - gets into all sorts of exciting scrapes and adventures.

So what does the aerodynamically-shaped pooch get up to this time?

Claude slips out into the big wide world when his owners, Mr and Mrs Shinyshoes leave for work one morning. Along with his best friend and sidekick Sir Bobblysock (a rather dashing and well presented sock, if a little bobbly and woolly), Claude once again aims to experience life in the hustle and bustle of the urban metropolis.

There is much for a young dog to take in. Cafe culture and high tea, but soon Claude is drawn to the sounds of music and a ballet class as young children practice for a big show later that day.

Never one to shy away from adventure and excitement (despite Sir Bobblysock's silent protests and pithy stares), Claude tucks into a small emergency lunch (stashed in his capacious Tardis-like Beret, of course) and is soon in the thick of a cake stealing plot as thick as a layer of royal icing!

Can Claude save the day and be home in time for a well earned rest?

Alex T Smith's a master of making children giggle like drains, and adults also love the sheer joy of reading Claude books out loud to their kids (well I certainly did!) The book had all the right ingredients for Charlotte. Crazy characters, ballet shenanigans and of course suave socks who look rather dapper in a half-windsor tie. What's not to love!

Can't wait to read more Claude, what a happy discovery!

Charlotte's best bit: After watching too many episodes of Scooby Doo it didn't take her very long to figure out who the culprit was in the story! They might've gotten away with it if it hadn't been for that perishing dog (and his sock!)

Daddy's favourite bit: In my mind's eye Alex has secretly drawn an intricate cutaway drawing of Claude's beret, detailing all the little compartments and containers where he keeps all the emergency stuff he needs for his adventures. So cool!

(Kindly sent to us for review by Hodder / Hachette Children's Books)